Supporting belt and ptosis pad



March 20, 1945. q 1. R. VERSOY 2,372,034'

. SUPPORTING BELT'AND PTOSIS PAD Filed March 18, 1942 2 Sheets-Shegt l March 20, 1945.

l. R. VERSOY SUPPORTING BELT AND PTOSIS PAD 2' Sheets-Shae; 2

Filed March 18, 1942 Patented Mar. 20, 1945 SUPPORTING BELT PTOSIS Irving R. Versoy, New Haven, Conn., assignor to The Berger Brothers Company, New Haven, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut f Application March 18, 1942, Serial No. 435,184

3 Claims. oi. 128-96) This invention relates to a. supporting belt and' ptosis pad, and more particularly to a. belt of this character designed to encircle the body and provided with means by whichthe' organs of the albdominalregion of the bodymay be elevated to and supported in their proper positions. Also the belt to which therptosis pad is securedis designed to give support to other portions'of the body, such as the back and the sections between the hip bonesand the ribs of the wearer.

In thev past, garments of this character have for the most partbeen provided with pads of relatively inflexible material which may be compressed against the body to a certain extent;

but when so compressed are apt to bulge outance. Moreover, if the pad is designed to cover an area of some extent, it may be disposed against portions of the body which are not of equal softness, and therefore the compression of the pad will be unequal over its area, with the result that it will not exert the same pressure over its whole area, and therefore will not effectively serve its purpose ofwelevating and supporting the organs of the body.

One object of the present invention is to provide a supporting belt and ptosis pad of improved construction.

Another object of'the invention is to provide a body-encircling belt having a ptosis pad therei in which will be so constructed that it will be able to adjust itself to the various portions of.

the area of the body which it covers and exert the proper pressure over its entire area.

A still furtherobject of the invention is to,

provide a ptosis pad which shall be bowed'inwardly at its intermediate portion and'provided with resilient spaced horizontally extending -stiffening members such that the padmay readily adjust itself to the portions of thebody which it covers, and exert the proper pressure upon the body without any likelihood of an outwardbulging appearance which will be objectionable. .A still further object of the invention is to provide a supporting belt and ptosis pad, the,

latter being so constructed that it may conform to the relative softness of the area of the body which it covers, "and embed itself to a certain 15- wardly so as to effect an objectionable appearextent in the body of the wearer, whilethe front which members are bowed or arch-shaped intermediate'their ends and possessed of such resilie'ncy that they will tend to flatten out when placed under/tension, whereby when the pad is applied to the body it will tend to embed itself therein, and 'atthe same time tend to assume a flattened form which will present a neat apeparance and also effect the proper application of Y pressure uponithe'body to elevate and support the abdominal organs in their proper positions. j To these and other ends the invention consists inlthe novel features and combinations of parts to'be' hereinafter described and claimed.v "ln the accompanying drawings: I

Fig. l is a' front elevational view of the belt and ptosis pad embodying my invention in positionupon thebody;

Fig. 2' is aside elevational view of Fig. 1

Fig.l 3 is a perspective view of the belt and I Fig. 4 isa front view of the front section of the belt, with the pad shown in dotted lines at the rear or inside thereof; i

' Fig.5 is "atop plan view of thefront section of the belt and pad;

Fig. 6 is a view similar tOLFig. 5, showing the 1 position assumed by the pad when tension is applied thereto; t l r a Fig. ,7 is a. side elevational view of the parts shown in Fig.4; and t Fig. 8 is a perspective view of oneof the stiffening members used in'the pad.

Toillustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, I have shown a body-encircling belt comprisingarear section I!) and a front section ll.'--'Th'e rear. section is preferably of greater height than the front section, and is provided with=substantially vertically extending stiffeningmembers or stays l2, ofwhich two are shown adjacent each sideedge of this section of the 'gannent; The front section tapers slightly from top-tq-bottom, and is provided with substantially vertically extending stay members or bones l3, there-being, asshown, one adjacent the. center of the sectionandone adjacenteach edge thereof. The two outer stay members slightly diverge upwardly owing-tothe fact that the section is slightly larger at the top than at the bottom,

-To each edge of the rear section lll aresecured relativelywideupper. and lower tabs l4 and I5 to extendpartially around the body of the wearer, andextending from the side edges of the front section 5 ll are corresponding upper and lower tabs I 6 and 11. In each case the tabs arerelatively1 wide but taper somewhat toward their free ends, so that at their points of connection with the respective sections the combined width of the tabs is as great or greater than the height of the sections themselves. These tabs are connected by straps l8, as shown, so that the parts hereto- 8 20 arranged upon the rear tabs to receive the 10 upper straps. As shown, the belt is made of nonelastic material, although variation in this respect may be resorted to if desired; 7 :1, As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the belt illustrated body, the lower tabs passing about the 'hipsOf theQ wearer, while the upper tabs, and particularly those attached to the rear section of the garment;

are designed to cover and give support to that,

portion of the body substantially betwee'n'the 'hip bones and theribs. fllheirontsection-.l iis designed to be disposed :at the :lower :abdominal region of the wearer, so-that the zpad attached .to the interior of'this section, :as will be :presently described, will press ragainst arsoft portion of, the

body.

The ptosis pad, shown particularly in Figs. 4 to 8 ofthe drawings, is attached tothe lower portionof the frontsection, and comprises apadded I body 21, somewhatilarger at its upper end-than at the lower end, thus .=following to some extent the shape of the front section ill, -to'the interior of which it is'secured. The pad is provi'ded'with transversely or substantiallyihorizontallyextending, spaced, reinforcing members or :steels T22.

- plane of'the front section i l 'due to the bowed or arch-shaped form imparted to-it bythe reinforc- 1:45

ing steels 22. The pad will, therefore, tend to embeditself in the soft abdominabportionof the body to some extent when the belt-is worn.

As stated, the steels "2'2 areresilient, so that when the belt having the pad attached thereto =is worn and tension applied to-the straps Hi, there will be a tendency for'the padto 'ilatten' out, as shown in Fig. 6. That is, thepressu're ortension upon the ends o'fthe pad'or uponthe' ends o'f the steels 22 will press the bowed portion=ofthe pad abdomen and amount of tension.

It will be noted that when worn, as shown in Fig. 6, the pad will be substantially fiat or-slightly concave across the front exterior "surf ace thereof. It willnever bulge outwardly: inobje'ctidrieible .fashion, and the fact that itwill be embedded into the soft abdomen to'some extent-will cause it to stay in place without likelihood" of slipping upwardly .from its correct position.

vIt will also be noted that'theshape-"o'f the-pad will effect a'lifting'of the organs of'the bodyso "(uthat they will be kept in their proper position, and will in effect embed itself to some extent in the soft portion of the body to form a shelf to hold the body organs in raised position. This will be particularly the case when the lower portion of the pad lies opposite a softer portion of the human body than the upper portion, in that, as there are a plurality of the spaced steels 22, the lower steels opposite the softer-i portionrof the body will embed themselves to agreater extentthan the .portion of the pad against the upper steels.

It may also be noted that the wide tabs at the :ffrontand back of the garment will give support v I to the body over a. large portion of the surface is designed to be worn at thelower-portion'oi the covered by thebelt, but at the same time the provision of separated or individual tabs allows flexibility andventilation at the sides of the body.

While I:=have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capableof modification; and variation within th spirit l of the invention and within thescope'of-the claims. p

'What I claim is:

1.. A body encircling belt "and :ptosis zpad;:said

pad beingtsecured :to the belt fto be supported thereby at the innersurface thereof .and having .a plurality of laterally extending vertically spaced stiffening members incorporated. therein, said members being bowed inwardlyqat their intermediateportions whereby [the pad is arched-in a horizontal directionto embed itself in the body of the wearer, said stiffening-members :beingresilient and .tendingtoiiatten out when the belt-is applied to'the body under tension, and :said belt including body-encircling straps :secured to and applying tension on the edges of the'pad when the belt is tightened on the body :of the-wearer.

2. A body-encirclinglbelt and .ptos'is' pad, :said

' 40 belt includinga frontisectioniand body-encircling meanssecured to the side edges :of :said section to embrace the :body and secure the belt in place, andsaid pad comprising a relatively'soft body and being secured to the inner-surface of :said front section and having'aplurality of laterally extending stiffening members embedded therein, said membersbeing substantially parallel and disposed in a series vertically of the padand being bowed inwardly at their intermediate portions to hold said pad in arch-shaped form in a horizontal direction, and said body-encircling meanscomprising straps'toapply tension to theedges of the pad to cause the latter to assume a-flattened form.

3. A body-encircling belt and ptosis pad, said belt including a front section and a rearsection and adjustable straps securing saidsections together, there being relatively wide tabs at the side edges of the front sectionto which the straps are secured, said pad-being secured to said front section and being bowed inwardly intermediate its side edges and having a plurality of resilient "arch-shaped horizontally disposed stiffening members' therein, said membersbeing disposedin spaced relation vertically of the pad to'be disstraps exerting tension'on the edges ofthe pad when the beltis tightened upon the 'body :of the wearer to cause the pad to tendto assume a'flattened form.

IRVING .R. 'VERSOY; 

